The Story Behind The Hills Outside The Volpe Center In Kendall Square

BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — There’s a cluster of small hills outside of John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center in Kendall Square, but not many people know the grass-covered mounds of dirt are actually an art installation. 

“I wouldn’t have thought it was art,” one passerby told WBZ NewsRadio. 

“I thought it was more like a utilitarian kind of thing," another said. 

Rain, who works in the building and walks by every day, said she would love to know the story behind the design. 

“The way it’s hilly and looks different, you’d want to know why they did it that way,” she said. “Maybe if they had a sign of something.” 

The landscape installation is called "The Sound we Travel at.” It was designed by renowned New York City based artist Maya Lin, the same artist who designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. The installation in Cambridge is supposed to a represent the Doppler Effect (the science phenomenon that depicts sound frequency in wave forms) since the Volpe Center’s work focuses on transportation.

MIT agreed to construct a new building for the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center in 2023 after acquiring the land from the federal government. A part of the building's cost went towards the art installation, as required by the U.S. General Services Administration’s Art in Architecture Program. 

Visitors are invited to walk and sit on top of it. 

A spokesperson from MIT told WBZ NewsRadio that GSA, who owns the building, plans to install a sign next spring. 

“I would like it to be more recognized especially people eat out here when it’s really nice,” a local resident said.

WBZ NewsRadio’s Emma Friedman (@EmmaFriedmanWBZ) reports.

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